


Accidentally in Prose

by tempered_rose



Category: Football RPF, Real Person Fiction, Sports RPF
Genre: Bad Friends, Characters Reading Fanfiction, Fanfiction, Friendship, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER, I know, If You Squint - Freeform, M/M, Outing, slight angst, some are mentions, what
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-04-10
Packaged: 2018-05-17 19:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5882650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempered_rose/pseuds/tempered_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>…or in which Thomas finds fanfiction, writes one of his own, and then precedes to out his friends on accident and then tries to find a way to make it up to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thomasmxller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thomasmxller/gifts).
  * Translation into 中文 available: [同人论坛引发的灾难](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7145579) by [kts210 (redback210)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redback210/pseuds/kts210)



> Written as a request for thomasmxller, who is quite a sweetheart :) Who also prodded me to write something upon my behest. Feel free to request stuff also if you like over [here](http://elleeffsee.tumblr.com/ask). No promises, but if the muse bites, I'll give it a try. And this is a two parter, tomorrow should the second part be posted. :)

‘ _It was a dark and stormy night, nothing was stirring, not even a…_ ’ Mouse? No, that wasn’t right.

Thomas leaned back in his chair and he thought about it. He was pretty sure he was writing the beginning of a weirdly combined Halloween and Christmas poem, but that wasn’t the look he was going for at all. He was trying to be _romantic_ for God’s sake. He sighed and looked at the blinking cursor on the computer screen.

Why was he doing this again? Thomas had to think about it for a minute since it had been a good long while since this had originated.

That morning, he had simply been going online to check something for his dad about their family genealogy when he had accidentally typed in the wrong thing. “Archive of our own family”--because clearly the only German family in the entirety of the world were the Müller’s--had turned into simply ‘archive of our own’ and he had been so quick in his typing that he’d forgotten to add the word family, resulting in a wonderful Pandora’s box of new adventures and horrific realizations.

Thomas had heard of the mysterious tales of fanfiction before, but he had never actually read any. Except that one time, but that was for Star Wars and that was _completely_ different. I mean who wouldn’t find Harrison Ford attractive? But then that turned into him searching for all of his favorite movie and TV shows just to see what there was on offer for him to read, should he ever find time. He also raised his eyebrows several times at some of the pairings he found, especially the ones that didn’t match the point-three second amount of thought he put into it.

However, he did find himself on the precipice of no return.

He typed in the search box his name and then hit the enter key and waited for his internet to load the page which took less time than it took him to blink.

The first few things that popped up had him questioning other people’s sanity. After about the fifteenth though, he questioned his own sanity. Why _hadn’t_ he thought about Miro like that before? Or Mario? Or the giant Nutella Duck?

He scratched his head at that before something caught his eye and he devolved into a fit of giggles at the thought of Marco Reus and Mario Götze being in a relationship together. That’s what the--were these things called tags?--suggested that this one offering in particular had in it. He almost fell out of his chair he was laughing so hard. He _did_ fall out of his chair when he saw one for Benedikt and Matsi together. He couldn’t breathe properly when he saw a tag for Bastian and Lukas.

Somehow, and he wasn’t sure how, he regained his senses enough to haul himself off the floor and back into the chair. Good thing no one else was home. He shook his head and then inhaled so sharply his lungs hurt and he did something to his throat where he had to cough and get air out of there for how suddenly he had intaken it.

There, on the screen and showing as a very, _very_ clickable link, was his name paired with…

Robert Lewandowski.

Oh. Oh, God.

He clicked it--of course he clicked it--and frowned when he saw less than ten items of offering. Some of these had over a hundred. Ignoring the snub, he glanced at the summaries of a few of them and then clicked on one. It was a short fic--that’s what these were called on the ‘downlow’, right?--but what it said had him blushing red and getting up and actually physically walking away from his computer.

Good thing no one was home to walk in and read that...that… _that_!

So Thomas did what Thomas would. He closed his laptop and went to go out. Away from the internet and those heinous lies. Clearly, it was the only reasonable choice.

However, while he was out, he couldn’t help but think of Lewy. He was a handsome man, anyone could see that. Sure, he wasn’t Harrison Ford, but so few men could be Indiana Jones. Lewy had some otherworldly appeal about him though and the way he played, man, Thomas wished he was German sometimes. They would be unstoppable if Robert could link up with him and the rest of the national team. The thought made Thomas’ skin raise goosebumps and he would shiver with the thrill of it. He would settle for working with him at Bayern, of course he would, but the deliciousness of his own private fantasy made him want…

It wasn’t a good thing when Thomas wanted something. Because he had a tendency to want things he couldn’t have.

By the time he got home, it was nearly four in the afternoon and dinner time would be in a couple hours. So he sat back at the computer and logged back in where the fic was still waiting for him. He quickly hit the backspace key and returned to his search results for him and Lewy. Under ten fics simply would not do.

Thomas opened a word document and then paused. How hard could this be?

‘It was a dark and stormy night, and not a creature was stirring, not even a…’

He backspaced the entire sentence, not bothering to highlight and delete. He thought about it some more and finally started typing. He felt like a creative _genius_ as words flew forth from his mind onto the screen. He didn’t bother to check for grammar or spelling, he was far too perfect for that anyway.

He didn’t look up from the screen until his masterpiece was finished, and by that time it was well after seven and his stomach reminded him that he was past due for his evening meal. Thomas figured out how to create an account and post a new work, which he did, and then logged out and went off to make his dinner.

Then Thomas did what Thomas would. He forgot about everything and resumed his normal, cheerful, internet-free life.

\-------

So it was until a few days later when the team had gathered in Glasgow for the upcoming qualifier with Scotland. It should be an easy game, it wasn’t as if the Scotland were of any particular skill apart from amateur and they were World Cup winners. It shouldn’t have been any trouble of any sort.

The lads were hanging out in the hotel, specifically in Manuel’s room and giving him quite the hard time about it, and were shooting the breeze as the expression were. Thomas was lounging ever so nonchalantly in an armchair, conveniently across Mesut’s lap--which was earning a rather curious glare from one Sami Khedira, but Thomas was sure the other man must have something in his eye--while Lukas and Bastian were huddled on the sofa together talking about something on Lukas’ phone.

It was at the sight of them that Thomas remembered the events from the other day. He started laughing, so loudly that he started to snort, earning a disgusted look at his lack of class from the ever so stylish Toni. If Fips had been there, he would have ignored Thomas and hoped it would go away. As it was, Fips was not there--neither was Miro, a thought which made everyone sad but they refused to comment on it--and so it was up to Manuel to demand the answer to his snorts.

“What’s so funny?”

It took him a few minutes before he could speak but Thomas shifted to sit up, wiggling in Mesut’s lap and earning a huff of annoyance from his lifelike pillow and the grip of Sami’s on the arm of his chair to tighten.

“I just read something the other day and it was so _funny_!”

Several answers from his so-called teammates questioned his literacy as well as his sanity before Bastian, ever-so-polite Basti, spoke up.

“What was that, Thomas?”

“That you and Lukas were boyfriends!” Thomas delved into another series of giggles and he was so delighted with himself he didn’t notice the pen-drop silence that had fallen on the room.

“Was that all you read?” Bastian replied almost at a whisper.

“No!” Thomas giggled. “Apparently,” he had to laugh some more, “apparently those two--” Thomas pointed to Marco and Mario, “are an item as well! And his captain,” he pointed at Marco, “with _his_ captain!” Thomas looked around the room as if he were searching for his next victim, but couldn’t find him. Then it clicked. “Oh shit, Julian’s not here and he doesn’t play for Schalke anymore. Oh well, apparently Mats and Benni are a thing.”

Thomas grinned in delight and it wasn’t until he realized he was the only one smiling, and was part of the half of the room with any skin color to his credit. The ones he named were pale and stiff as marble.

“Isn’t that funny?” He asked, grin slipping.

“Where did you read this, Thomas?” Bastian asked after he cleared his throat.

“On this website...apparently people are quite bored and write this stuff.” 

Mats shook his head and got up from his seat and left the room without a word. Mario and Marco were no longer touching, sitting with a very distinct inch of space between them that had not been there before.

“What’s his problem?” Thomas asked after Mats slammed the door behind him. Lukas and Bastian exchanged a look but it was Manuel who jerked Thomas up from the chair and Mesut’s lap and started to drag him out of the room. Thomas, although lanky, still had some fight in him as he struggled with the keeper who was acting as a very effective bouncer.

“What’s wrong? What did I do?” He whined as Manuel dropped him out in the hallway and started to steer him to his own room.

Manuel didn’t answer until they were in Thomas’ room and then when he rounded on Thomas, the younger man had to blink because he’d never seen the keeper so angry before. Not even when the team made a mistake that allowed a goal in.

“Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?”

Thomas started to answer, then realized he didn’t have words. Manuel didn’t seem to mind his silence since he continued without his aid.

“What you think is cute or so absurdly funny is in fact not all that funny. You have no idea what you could have done by running that gaping mouth of yours! Fortunately, everyone present is open minded enough to be accepting, but clearly you weren’t told for a reason.” Manuel continued to rant but Thomas interrupted him.

“Not told what? I know everything!”

“Clearly you don’t!” That seemed to enrage Manuel anew. “Those couples that you mentioned earlier _are_ in fact an item. Or at least they were. What if you had outed them in front of someone else that didn’t know or wouldn’t understand? Do you know the scrutiny that would have come if that person had told anyone else? It would spiral and cause a media storm and we don’t need that attention now, or ever. You are so selfish and unthinking of how what you say affects other people. I can see you’ve never been in a relationship with another man before, otherwise you’d care about them. Care enough to put their feelings above your own.”

Manuel shook his head and went to open the door and leave, but before he did, he turned back to a stunned silent Thomas.

“Swear you will say nothing of this to anyone.”

It took a little prodding, but Thomas nodded and whispered. “I swear.”

“Good. If you break that, I will break you and you will never play football again.”

Manuel’s threat was punctuated by the crisp ‘clip’ of the door as it shut behind him. Thomas’ throat was heavy and thick as he felt the shame of what he’d done slowly begin to dawn on him. He sat on the end of his bed and stared at the door that Manuel had left from as it blurred. The sharp sting of tears in his eyes reminded him that he’d hurt his friends without meaning to.

The shame took him and he laid on his side on the bed as a tear rolled down his nose.

He had to find a way to make it up to them. He just didn’t know how.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but here's the second part! The final one will be up soon-ish, hopefully within the week. Thank you guys for your patience ♥

Thomas threw the tennis ball upwards, watched it bounce off the pristine white ceiling overhead before it would come falling back into his waiting palm. He never missed and he’d been at it for nearly an hour.

No one was speaking to him, though he didn’t like it, he didn’t necessarily blame them for their cold-shoulder. Especially Manu’s. He had let them all down badly. Bastian and Lukas were refusing to answer his texts, many of which said ‘I’m sorry’ and the same went for Marco and Mario. Mats and Benni hadn’t answered because Thomas hadn’t sent them anything, yet.

In Glasgow, Germany had won the match of course, though it hadn’t been the easy slide they had all expected. An unknown to everyone else tension between the players hadn’t helped. Still, a win was a win and with the way the qualifying campaign was going, they could use as many of those as they could get. Poland were doing surprisingly well, and Thomas had to commend Robert on his goalscoring ability, which he did with a simple text message that said ‘nice brace, see you in Munich’. He didn’t even send a smiley face or reply when Robert responded with a ‘thanks’ and a ‘are you ok?’.

Thomas left his phone off or away from himself apart from only to set his alarms in the evening and to play the odd round of Candy Crush to pass the time while the adverts played on the television in funny British accents while they remained in Scotland. He didn’t even send his usual number of Facebook requests; normally he’d send at least a dozen or so to various people--normally Manu, but he only sent three requests this time and none of them to Manuel (instead: Toni, Julian, and Fips).

By the time he and the others returned to Munich and resumed their normal day to day lives with the club, Thomas still hadn’t worked himself out of his funk. He hadn’t figured out a way to reinstate Lukas’ and Bastian’s and all the others’ confidence in him and he hated this feeling of not knowing what to do. If they wouldn’t give him the time of day in reply to his texts, what else could he do? So, he threw his tennis ball against the ceiling of the hotel room they were in, this time in Germany, probably annoying the person in the room above him to no end, but he didn’t really care. He could have a pretty nasty bitchy face when he wanted or needed one if anyone came to tell him off about it.

As fate--or the fanfiction writers of that site--would have it, they had to share rooms this time away. Some snag while booking rooms and a conference going on at the same time, or that was the vague answer a hotel receptionist had tried to politely explain to the team liaison upon their arrival (he wasn’t nosy, he just listened really well sometimes--and he’d been sitting at the front of the bus alone so he’d heard the whole thing). Thomas didn’t immediately think of that stupid online fanfiction crap, but he would be lying if he said it hadn’t crossed his mind a little bit when Pep had ordered the two forwards for the match to share. Him and Robert, of course, to ‘work on their synergy’ with manager’s orders.

Whatever the hell that meant (Thomas dare not think what the fanfic ladies would say about that).

Robert came back from getting ice because God forbid he not have super ice-cold water whenever he wanted, and Thomas found himself suddenly very interested in his phone. He kept getting emails from that website about people leaving him ‘kudos’ or something. He just kept deleting the emails and was temporarily ignoring the ones that said ‘comments’, not that there were many of the second ones. He felt Lewy’s eyes on him, but he ignored the other man and left the tennis ball under his chin while he went through his numerous emails.

He heard Lewy sigh after a while as the other man went out to sit on the balcony. Thank God the match was coming up in a few hours; that would at least give them something to do for a while. Thomas decided to read what his fans--that’s what he was calling the ones that left a comment on his story--thought about his work. He had only written the one story since the argument with the others kind of took the wind from his sails on that idea. Still, he scrolled through the four comments he had received and read them all in their grammatical errored glory.

One was from someone who said: ‘ _Not bad for your first work. I think some editing would be a good idea. otherwise, well done. Can’t wait to see what you do next!_ ’

Delighted, he read the next one. ‘ _LOL Please stop. This is so OOC idk where to begin. Do you actually WATCH football? STAHP_ ’

He frowned and ignored the sound of the door opening to read the next comment.

‘ _Robert would not act so OBVIOUS around Thomas, that’s something Mulli would be more likely to do since its in his character. I don’t think Robert would be so willing to have sex either!!!! Satan Bob isn’t the kind of ‘hit it at first sight’ type of man despite what his smirk would say!_

 _Like the other person said, not bad for your first work, but I would suggest maybe watching some more matches and noticing their actual interactions. Also like someone else said, your English and grammar need a little bit of work. If I can be any help, please check out my Tumblr devoted to them, its called 25und9.tumblr.com_ ’.

Thomas was tempted to click on the link, he really was, and he probably would have too if not for the fact that Robert sat on the edge of his bed and nearly made Thomas leap from his own skin from surprise at the feel of Lewy’s hand on his ankle.

“Yes?” Thomas asked demurely (he thought), clicking the power button on his phone so the screen went dark. He may never know what the final comment on his fic was because he was pretty sure Satan Bob--who the _fuck_ would actually call him _that_ besides the crazies on that fanfiction place? and what the hell was a Tumblr?!--would kill him if he ever found out what he’d been up to. And also his English and grammar were fine, thank you very much. He almost humphed, but Robert started to speak.

“Thomas, I just want to check, are you okay? You’ve been very...uhhhh...quiet since you’ve come back.” Robert made a gesture with his hand and added quickly, “less yourself than usual. I worry about you.”

It wasn’t until he said the last part that Thomas fully understood what those girls, he was going to call them his sisters now, were on about. Those _eyeballs_. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. On. A. Pogo. Stick. With. Lollipops. He could look at those eyes--nay, those _orbs of cerulean perfection_ \--all day, in fact, he should probably start right now. Oh god. He swallowed and licked his lips. Oh my _God_. (Cerulean perfection was totally how he was going to describe Lewy’s eyes in the next fic, mental note made.)

“I’m gay.” He whispered.

“What?” Robert frowned and leaned closer.

“I’m game for the match. It’ll be a good one, don’t you think?”

“Sure…? We’ll win, no doubt.” Lewy added and looked confused. “Thomas, did you not hear what I said?”

“Sure I did.” Thomas replied, shifting away from those damn eyeballs and started to get up from the bed. “I’m fine, I don’t know why you’re worried.”

Robert looked as if he were about to provide a very logical and rational answer to that question, before Thomas stopped him by going into the bathroom and turning the fan on. He then turned the tap on and preceded to pretend he was going to the bathroom when really he just sat on the closed toliet lid and sighed, hoping that time would go faster.

Unfortunately, it didn’t and he had to kill some time without making it look like he was having a problem. He ended up turning the tap off after he flushed but he didn’t come out. He thought about washing his face or taking a shower, but that would involve taking his clothes off and _that_ probably wasn’t a good idea right now…

When he did come out of the bathroom--after brushing his teeth, washing his face, combing his hair, checking out whether or not he should have his eyebrows waxed, debating if he should have them waxed/plucked/threaded/left-alone, flossing each and every single tooth, using some weird moisturizer he’d found in the drawer, and lastly but not leastly lotioning every part of his body that was exposed to the air without removing anything--Lewy had gone back out to the balcony but this time his equipment bag was on the bed and it was all zipped up. Thomas debated going back to read what his sisters had to say about Lewy and him in the fic but he decided it could wait. With all that time he’d wasted in the bathroom, he could play a couple more lives’ worth of Candy Crush.

Happily, he sat down on his bed and proceeded to do just that while Robert stayed outside and did who knows what.

* * *

“Manu, can we talk?”

The voice was confident despite sounding a bit hesitant to address the speaker. The contradiction in tones made Manuel turn around and lift an eyebrow when he saw Lewandowski coming towards him. The keeper simply nodded once and continued to finish packing up his gear after the game. Another Bayern match, another Bayern win, just how he liked it (no matter what his deep, deep, deeply buried Schalke heart would say).

“What is it?”

“Um, well, it’s just that I’ve been noticing that Thomas isn’t….quite...himself these days. Did something happen?”

Manuel raised his eyebrow again and looked up while he continued with his folding of his clothes.

“‘Something.’ Such as?”

Robert rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s definitely more quiet than usual and he hasn’t done anything to warrant Pep to order him to run more laps after training and that _never_ happens…”

Manuel stood up straight after zipping his bag and looked levelly at the goalscorer. He could have been a striker once, if he hadn’t decided keeping was for him (midfielders be damned). Lewy looked innocent enough, just concerned and while Manuel sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him _everything_ about what happened, perhaps he could let the man in on some of it.

“Thomas said something he ought not have. He upset some people.”

Robert was quiet for a moment but understanding was melting in his eyes. “Irreparably upset them?”

Manuel was quiet for a long while as he thought about it. The rest of their team had mostly already gone, but a few stragglers were about to head out. Manuel started to walk away, but he simply moved a few steps over and held the door open for the striker who walked out and Manu followed him. As they walked down the hallway, the blond man answered the question.

“I don’t know. They are a forgiving bunch, and an understanding one. But sometimes Thomas he...he acts and says things he should, as a man of his age and position, should know better than to do and say.”

“He wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t do or say some of those things, though.” Robert added softly and Manuel nodded with a sigh as they approached the final doors leading them to the waiting press, fans, and ultimately, the team bus.

“You are right about that, Robert. Even so, sometimes I wish Thomas Müller acted more like an adult than the child he tries to always be.”

Manuel shrugged and started through the doors first, leaving Robert to have a moment of thought before he joined the goalkeeper in the throng of people.

* * *

Thomas lay in bed, his back to the other bed in the room and conveniently the player in it, and he checked the final comment of his story.

‘ _I think next time you should write smut instead of this ‘fade to black’ thing. We’d really love it! There’s not enough Mullendowski out there, so I’m glad to see that you are contributing to this! A few minor blemishes (grammar, spelling), but otherwise a beautiful sentimental piece. Good job, please write more soon!_ ’

Well that person was kind, Thomas thought as he opened Candy Crush Soda Saga up. A nice change of variety, he’d downloaded the sequel game earlier that afternoon. He shifted onto his back to play it while in the next bed over Robert was watching something on the television about a cooking show.

Eventually the show ended and Robert clicked the television off and set the remote on the shared nightstand. He gave it a few minutes before he spoke to Thomas.

“Are you ready to go to sleep?”

Thomas shrugged and tried to remove the jelly from the level he was on. “If you are, I guess so.”

Robert nodded and moved to turn out the lights, plunging the room into darkness apart from the display on Thomas’ phone. The younger man could hear the shift of the sheets as Robert lay down and the quiet resumed. Thomas kept trying to beat the level and paid Robert no mind.

At least, he would have if Robert hadn’t spoken.

“I’m sorry you got into a fight with your friends.”

“Who said I did?” Thomas said too quickly to avoid appearing defensive.

“One of your friends.”

“Did they tell you what about?”

“No.”

Thomas honestly debated telling him, the darkness somehow made it safer to tell him, so he couldn’t see the other man’s reaction. Still, if he told the whole truth and nothing but, then he would be breaching the privacy of his friends all over again. This was a test, and he would not fail this one.

But at the same time, he still found himself wanting to tell Robert _something_ , if only so they could keep talking. He thought about it, and finally Thomas said.

“Robert, Lewy, have you ever said something you wished you could take back?”

“Of course.”

“I mean something important, life changing, something that could affect someone else, not just yourself. Something that you could have had the power to help be a positive influence, instead of fucking it all up. Have you ever said something like that?”

Robert was quiet for a moment; quiet for so long, Thomas looked over after the display had turned off and his eyes had adjusted so that he could see Robert laying down. His eyes were open; that much Thomas could see.

“No, I haven’t done that.” Robert said quietly. Thomas’ heart sank a little, though he wasn’t quite sure why, but Robert did add to his statement. “Though, I think, sometimes _not_ saying something can just be as bad as saying something.”

Thomas didn’t have an answer to that so Robert ended up smiling a rueful smile and he turned his head to meet Thomas’ eyes. “Goodnight, Thomas.”

“Goodnight Lewy,” Thomas said by way of reply on automatic and he laid there in bed, even after Robert had fallen asleep and the only thing to hear was the sound of his breathing and the mini-fridge coming on and off.

Thomas wondered what in Robert’s life had he not said that had been that important. Had he lost someone? Had he missed an opportunity? Could he have had a whole other life if he’d spoken up about something? Had someone died and he’d missed a moment to say goodbye?

He lay awake for most of the night trying to think of an answer, right until he fell asleep with his phone still tucked in his hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your patience! Here, I complete the work. I hope you guys like it *hides* Please comment to let me know how I did. :)

By the time the next morning had come around, Thomas had had an idea. He was remarkable in that way, the way of coming up with great ideas while he was asleep. If he was honest, he had had _two_ great ideas, but one was better than the other. The better idea involved getting his friends to like him again; the other one simply had to do with writing another story.

He packed up his things while Lewy had already done so the night before and they both made their way downstairs together. Thomas was very tempted to ask about the night before and what Robert had said about _not_ saying anything, but he didn’t. Maybe he should have done, but Thomas didn’t think it was the right time just yet.

Besides, Satan Bob was being pretty quiet and was keeping to himself. Even after they got on the bus and sat together, Lewy simply looked out the window while Thomas played round after round of Candy Crush. As the team travelled, the bus rocked and every so often Thomas would brush against Lewy; his arm, his leg, sometimes both if a turn was particularly sharp. When he finally ran out of lives in his game, Thomas sighed and put his phone down and turned to look out the window, but found his eyes turning to look at Robert instead.

“What are you doing when you get home?” Robert asked, noticing Thomas’ eyes on him through the reflection of the window.

Thomas, embarrassed at being caught staring, was quick to answer. “I don’t know.” _Brilliant answer._ He wanted to smack himself.

“What are you doing?” He added rapidly.

Robert’s eyes looked to Thomas’ lips for barely a second before he glanced up to meet his eyes. “I thought I might work out. Or start on one of those games Mario is always going on about...Call of--Call of Duty? Something like that.”

“It’s boring.” Thomas replied, making a mental note of Robert’s wandering eyes. “Halo is a lot better.” He then proceeded to compare the two games and found himself rambling, because Robert’s eyes were roaming again, but this time he was looking all over Thomas’ face and he was suddenly self conscious. “Anyway, you should try the different games if you want. It depends on what kind of story you like.”

“I like all sorts. Of stories, I mean.”

“Me too.” Thomas agreed, but as their eyes met Thomas thought that maybe they were agreeing on something more than just a tale from a video game. He also was surprised to realize that he didn’t mind. Robert kept his eyes on Thomas’ as he leaned closer, but the bus jilted and they both crashed together after leaning so close to one another. They startled and were reminded where they were and that they were not alone. Thomas leaned back and looked ahead, though there was a flush to his cheeks that hadn’t been there before. He cleared his throat and almost choked when he felt Robert’s fingers brush along his own on the seat.

Thomas looked over too quickly to be subtle and Robert looked as calm as he always did, though maybe there was a more intense look in his eyes this time. Thomas relaxed and let Robert run their fingers together before he took his hand and their palms slid along one anothers. The breath seemed to leave Thomas’ lungs and he found it incredibly hard to believe he was having trouble _breathing_ just because an attractive man was touching his _hand_ \--and yet, there he was.

“Um...if you want, you can come over to my house and I can show you...about, about the games?” Thomas stumbled over his words and decided to take a risk before he over-thought it. _What are you doing?!_

“That sounds, that sounds nice.” Robert smiled a little, but it was hesitant. “Are you sure?”

Thomas debated for a millisecond before he nodded. If he didn’t do it now, he would never do it. He wasn’t the sort of man that liked to sit around wondering ‘what if’. If he gave this a try, who knew what could happen. If anything would even happen, that was.

Robert nodded once in confirmation as they both sat back for the rest of the ride home.

* * *

Bastian opened the mailbox at his rented home outside of Manchester and saw a red envelope. Raising an eyebrow, he opened it up as he walked inside his house. Inside was an old photo of him and Lukas and Bastian’s arm was thrown around Lukas’ shoulders. They were both smiling and looked very happy. He glanced at the written words on the card and felt something lodge in his throat that was something suspiciously like regret for ignoring his friend so much.

‘ _I’m sorry I didn’t see before and thought it was funny. It is funny, I guess, that you found your soulmate at such a young age. You guys are great together and I really wish you the most happiness._

_Also, please go to Starbucks on me. A lot. There’s like a hundred Euros on this gift card. I sent one to Lukas too._

_Love you guys!!_

_\- Thomas_ ’

Bastian half-smiled as he put the gift card into his wallet and went to go text Thomas that he’d received his note.

* * *

Robert’s lips moved slowly along Thomas’ neck and he squirmed. He still wasn’t used to another man touching him like this in that spot, or any other place, but also he squirmed for the shivers running down his spine. He turned his head while he felt the bulk of Robert’s body behind him as they lay together on the bed. He pressed back into the man behind him and felt Lewy’s strong arm around waist. Thomas sighed and tilted his head so that he could kiss Robert’s lips.

This was their third morning together after their return from the away game. Thomas found out that he liked waking up like this.

* * *

Marco raised an eyebrow when he saw the box sitting on his porch. At first, it looked like just a normal delivery box. There was a shipping label and a ‘fragile’ stamp on it. It wasn’t till he saw who the sender was that he considered ignoring it and going back inside. Curiosity got the better of him and he picked up Thomas’ gift and carried it inside where he bomb-squad-carefully opened it and waited for the explosion of confetti or whatever else Thomas Müller would put into a box for his friends.

However, nothing but packing peanuts greeted him. So Marco risked his hand and slid it into the box to withdraw a picture frame. In it, there was a professional photograph of him and Mario from their time together at Dortmund. Marco’s arm was around Mario’s waist and they were smiling together with some of their teammates and Jurgen in the background. Thomas had put a sticky note on the back of the frame and so Marco flipped it around to read.

‘ _I know you miss him after all that time together. I hope this helps. Sorry I was a dumbass. - Thomas_

Marco reached for his phone and called Mario.

“Hey! I was just about to call you. You’ll never guess what was in my mailbox this morning…”

“Was it a picture frame of us?” Marco asked.

“Wait--how did you know? Stalker.”

“I got one too.”

“Oh.” Silence for a moment. “Should we forgive him then?”

Marco let out a slow breath. “Yeah. I think he gets it.”

“Okay. I’ll let him know.”

“Love you. Have a good time at training, just you know, don’t train well so we can beat you soon.”

“You wish.” Mario said, laughing as he hung up. A half second later there was a text from him saying ‘love you too’. Marco smiled and went to decide where he’d put the photo.

* * *

Thomas was hard at work on the computer for so long and so intently that Robert finally gave up trying to lure him away with whipped cream and Lewy’s own being shirtless, so he huffed as he went over to see what Thomas was doing. He read over Mulli’s shoulder and raised an eyebrow before frowning.

“Wait just a minute!”

Thomas jumped at the sudden appearance (that he totally missed and wasn’t really sudden at all) of his...whatever they were doing partner. “What?”

“I would _not_ have sex with you in a bathtub. Don’t write that.”

“You wouldn’t? Why not?” Thomas scowled before noticing that Robert was shirtless. That was pleasing to his eyes.

“It’s not my thing. Baths in general aren’t my thing, but never mind doing _that_ ,” he gestured to the computer screen, “in a tub.”

“Well that’s why it’s fanfiction. I’ll keep my little fantasy in here.” Thomas huffed and turned back to the screen and continued to type away.

Right until Robert put some whipped cream on Thomas’ neck and then started to lick it off. Thomas yelped then shuddered and the computer was soon forgotten as they made a mess on the floor beside the desk.

* * *

“I mean, it’s not _horrible_.” Mats said, head tilted as he regarded the sketch that was currently framed and on his wall.

“It could be better. But it’s a good likeness of you.” Benedikt nodded and then almost laughed outright. Mats’ eyes narrowed as he turned away from the slightly-better-than-a-stick-figure drawing of himself and Benedikt together.

“And here I thought I was devilishly handsome.”

“Indeed. More devil than handsome, though.” Benni smiled and Mats began to pursue him through the house.

“That’s not what you said last night…”

“I say lots of things under duress.” Benni teased as Mats had him cornered by pushing him back onto the sofa.

“What shall I have you say next, then?” Mats asked, lips brushing along Benni’s as he pressed him into the cushions.

Benni kissed his boyfriend as they both forgot about Thomas’ handdrawn apology picture. They forgot about the note associated with it, and forgot about the Bavarian altogether.

As it turns out, Benni gets a lot more religious and vocal about his love for Mats under a certain kind of duress…

* * *

Manuel wasn’t an idiot, though some ultras for a few German clubs would suggest otherwise. He knew something was going on between the two prized goalscorers of Bayern Munich’s first team. His eyes narrowed, he watched them both at training. They were more smiley and more interactive than before. Thomas was still his giggly self, but now Lewy had joined in on it and that wasn’t something Lewy would normally do.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d say they’d been fucking around, literally.

“What’s with that face?” Philipp came over to him as Manu was taking a break during the drills.

“What face?”

“Your ‘I want to know what’s going on’ face.”

“I always have this face.” Manuel scowled at the captain of the team.

“You always want to know what’s going on.” Philipp smiled teasingly and Manuel rolled his eyes, relaxing his expression but only slightly.

“Something is going on with those two.” Manuel nodded to Robert and Thomas.

Philipp turned to watch the pair Manu had indicated for a while before they both had to resume training. When it was all over and done for the day and the showers had been taken and some of the players had gone already, Philipp found himself joining Manuel for a ‘plan’ to see what was going on. By doing so, he walked past Thomas as the others were finishing up in the shower.

“Thomas, I was wondering, did you want to come over to mine after to go over some notes I had from die mannschaft’s last game?”

“Oh! Um, I would love to but--”

“Great! I’ll even make sure you get dinner out of it.” Philipp smiled and waited by Thomas’ side as he finished up. Robert came out of the shower with a towel slung low about his waist and started for Thomas, but when he saw Fips, he started to his own locker.

As they started to walk out side by side, only Manuel noticed the slight shrug Thomas gave to Robert on the way past out the door.

* * *

“What did he want?” Robert asked a very sleepy Thomas on the way to their now-shared bedroom. Robert tasked himself with turning off all the lights while it was all Thomas could do to drag himself up the stairs to bed.

“To go over his notes on the last national game.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad…?”

“He goes on and on and could put the most boring teacher you’ve ever had to sleep. At least his cooking wasn’t bad.”

Thomas walked over and flopped down onto the bed face-first. Robert shook his head and started to pull off Thomas’ shoes and started to help him undress. Thomas fidgeted and started to push Lewy’s hands away.

“Not tonight, I’m too tired.” He mumbled grumpily.

Robert shook his head and smiled. “I know that silly. You look as if you can barely keep your eyes open.” He leaned forward and kissed Thomas’ temple lightly. “Let me do this for you.”

Thomas lowered his hands from Robert’s arm and nodded once. Robert moved to finish undressing his new boyfriend and helped tuck him into bed.

“Lewy?” Thomas spoke softly as Robert finished turning of the lights and readied himself for bed.

“Yes?”

“What were you going to say?”

Robert frowned from confusion before he recalled having something to say to Thomas before he’d seen how tired the boy was. He shook his head and smiled as he slid into bed. “It can wait till the morning, I promise.”

He slid his arms around Thomas as the other man let a ‘ok’ slip out from his lips before he fell asleep against Robert’s chest. Lewy smiled and ran his fingers along Thomas’ hair as he enjoyed the closeness of the German. He never thought he’d actually have Thomas in his arms, nor that they would have nearly a month’s worth of a relationship and no problems arise.

Robert closed his eyes and fell asleep with a smile on his face. The thought of ‘I think I love you’ went with him and he wondered how he’d tell Thomas that in the morning.

* * *

‘ _OMG. This was way hot. Like, omg. Please write more smut!!!!!_ ’

‘ _The world needs more Mullendowski. The world needs you. Bless you for this story. Bless you. The tub scene was so hot. Seriously, please write more. Bless you kind person._ ’

‘ _Hot dAYUM I love you please write more k?_ ’

‘ _This was such an improvement over your first story! Keep up the good work, and I really, really liked that tub scene. Very well written, I need a cold shower now!_ ’

Thomas smiled at the comments on the fic he had posted and he rubbed the sleep from his eyes while he waited for Lewy to wake up. He had more hits and more comments on this fic than the first one and he was pleased with his progress. No one had critiqued his writing to say it was bad.

Feeling overly pleased, the first thing he said to Robert after ‘good morning’ was “I told you the tub thing is a good idea.”

Robert groaned and rolled onto his back and put his arm over his eyes. “I love you Thomas Müller, but you’re going to be the death of me.”

Thomas paused at the ‘l’ word that rhymed with dove and stared at Lewy. Feeling something warm settle through his body, down into his toes, Thomas smiled and moved over to kiss Lewy good morning.

“It’s impossible to kill you, Lewy, you want to know why?”

“Why?” Lewy asked, eyes twinkling with amusement and happiness.

“Cause you’re Satan Bob, and it’s impossible to kill the devil.”

Thomas grinned as Robert rolled his eyes but pulled him closer. And soon the two of them forgot what they were talking about as they settled in for a nice long morning off from training.


End file.
